VIDEO: Author Alvin Blanco Explains His New Wu-Tang Clan Biography

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The good folks over at Fuse TV’s “Hip Hop Shop” interviewed me about my book, The Wu-Tang Clan and RZA: A Trip Through Hip Hop’s 36 Chambers. Wouldn’t call it a “bio” since the book deals more with the Clan’s music as opposed to their come up, but biographical content was definitely included to add proper context to the sounds from Shaolin. Consider the book more like “the ultimate guide to the labyrinthine musical world of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan,” as the esteemed Brian Coleman described it.

The Wu-Tang Clan and RZA: A Trip through Hip Hop’s 36 Chambers

I wrote a book and I think it’s pretty good. The Wu-Tang Clan and RZA: A Trip through Hip Hop’s 36 Chambers via Praeger and available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other spots. I’ll start promoting it one day, I swear. Check it out sometime.

The Wu-Tang Clan and RZA: A Trip through Hip Hop’s 36 Chambers

Book written by yours truly dropping April 30th, 2011 via Praeger. Stay tuned for more info while I get my self-promotion (ugh) game together. Big up to HipHopIsRead.com.

RIP Ol’ Dirty Bastard (11/15/68 – 11/13/04)

UPDATED: New video for Raekwon’s ODB dedication, “Ason Jones” from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, below.

Hard Times [Vibe Magazine, April 2006]

Ol’ Dirty Bastard: Rather Unique [AllHipHop, 2006]

Ol’ Dirty Bastard Died From Drug Overdose [MTV]

Riley Was Here x Top 5 Boondocks Episodes

“No one told you to paint over my house ’cause you want to make a point. This ain’t Beat Street.”

Got to write a Top 5 episodes of The Boondocks post over at The BVX. But my favorite moment from the cartoon is probably from the “Riley Was Here” episode when a graf writing Riley Freeman and his art teacher, a doppelgänger of the late painter Bob Ross, get chased by cops while Tom Scott’s cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “Today” plays in the background. It’s the same song Pete Rock flipped for “They Reminisce of Over You (T.R.O.Y.).” Also used by Black Sheep for “La Menage” (didn’t even know there was a video for its remix!) as Jerry Barrow of Nod Factor fame always likes to point out.

Quality vs. Quantity: 5 Mic Sales?

The sun will still shine...

The Deputy! over at XXL chastised the loud minority (big on praise, short on album support) of Clipse advocates that didn’t cop Til the Casket Drops its first week out. It got me thinking about my longstanding theory that album sales and classic albums are not mutually exclusive. Read: Your album is so great, no one bought it, or Your sales are spectacular, you’re still a horrible rapper.

So how have “classic albums”—a loaded term on its best day—faired in the sales race? For the sake of saving my time, for this list I used all the albums that received the former gold standard for rap long player excellence, a 5 mic rating in The Source Magazine. Also worth noting is that The Source had a “do-over” moment when they gave some albums 5 mic honors they didn’t originally receive (i.e. The Score originally received only 4 mics).

I then looked up each album on the database provided by the RIAA (those cats that certify record sales and hate mixtapes) to see what is its latest sales award (Gold, Platinum, Platinum+, etc) which is then listed next to the title in parentheses.

Keep in mind that if a label really wants to they can cook the books to keep the sales down (as convenient a reason to tell an artist they haven’t recouped as any). Considering how many people had the vinyl, tape, and CD, there is just no way De La Soul’s 3 Feet High & Rising debut hadn’t moved a milli’s worth of albums before finally being certified Platinum in 2000, 11 years after its initial release.

It’s tough to get a handle on the sales of albums like Boogie Down Productions’ Criminal Minded and Main Source’s Breaking Atoms since their original labels are defunct (B-Boy Records and Wild Pitch, respectively), and were operating under code 4,080 when they were up and running.

After looking over the list below, consider that Vanilla Ice’s To the Extreme is 6x Platinum and MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em is 10x Platinum (aka Diamond).

Also…

•Eminem being absent from this list, besides guest verses, didn’t stop him from being the best selling artist of the decade.

•Being a Hip-Hop martyr scores you plenty of record sales (Notorious BIG & Pac)

•A gang of you probably never even listened to Grip It! On That Other Level, same goes for Stunts, Blunts, and Hip Hop.

•I still feel a ways LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out isn’t on here.

•Considering Nas’ sales, it was cheaper to keep her. But he’s still Top 5 Dead or Alive.

•OutKast has more than one classic album and UGK gets no respect.

2001 by Dr. Dre (6x Platinum)

All Eyez On Me by 2Pac (9x Platinum)

AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted by Ice Cube (Platinum)

Aquemini by Outkast (2x Platinum)

The Blueprint by Jay-Z (2x Platinum)

Breaking Atoms by Main Source

By All Means Necessary by Boogie Down Productions (Gold)

The Chronic by Dr. Dre (3x Platinum)

Criminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions

Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic MCs

De La Soul Is Dead by De La Soul (Gold)

Death Certificate by Ice Cube (Platinum)

The Diary by Scarface (Platinum)

Doggystyle by Snoop Doggy Dogg (4x Platinum)

Edutainment by Boogie Down Productions (Gold)

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by Wu-Tang Clan (Platinum)

The Fix by Scarface

The Great Adventures of Slick Rick by Slick Rick (Platinum)

Grip It! On That Other Level by Geto Boys

Illmatic by Nas (Platinum)

The Infamous by Mobb Deep (Gold)

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy (Platinum)

Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em by Eric B. & Rakim (Gold)

Licensed to Ill by The Beastie Boys (8x Platinum)

Life After Death by The Notorious B.I.G. (10x Platinum)

Long Live the Kane by Big Daddy Kane (Gold)

The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest (Platinum)

Me Against the World by 2Pac (2x Platinum)

The Naked Truth by Lil’ Kim

No One Can Do It Better by The D.O.C. (Platinum)

One for All by Brand Nubian

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… by Raekwon (Gold)

Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim (Platinum)

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest (Gold)

Radio by LL Cool J (Platinum)

Raising Hell by Run-D.M.C. (3x Platinum)

Ready to Die by The Notorious B.I.G. (4x Platinum)

Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z (Platinum)

Run-D.M.C. by Run-D.M.C. (Gold)

The Score by The Fugees (6x Platinum)

Stillmatic by Nas (Platinum)

Straight Out the Jungle by The Jungle Brothers

Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (2x Platinum)

Strictly Business by EPMD (Gold)

Antenna Magazine Winter 2010 Issue Cover

Antenna Winter 2010 Issue

You know Antenna is your favorite magazine. Even Dallas Penn likes it. Antenna’s Winter ’09/’10 issue is here. Dude on the cover is Rob McElhenney from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (insert Beanie Sigel zinger, here), but you only care about the gear inside the book anyway. Click on pic for bigger image. Props to Kaity.

Below Antenna x High Snobiety interviewed Paul Rodriguez a little while back.

Video: Pac Div “Whiplash” x “Young Black Male”

“I used to drive the Honda til it ran out of gas/Now I’ma push the E, til I it out of class…”

More evidence why anyone saying Hip-Hop is kaput is legitimate jackass material. Pac Div drops a dual video for the buttery “Whiplash” and the profound “Young Black Male,” both off that Church League Champs mixtape. One of the best of the year, you blew it the MP3 files didn’t make your playlist.

A legit source told me a few weeks back that Like, Mibbs and BeYoung were recently in the lab with the Neptunes and the records came out dope. Hopefully.

RELATED:

Pac Div X Church League Champions (Download)

Mibbs, Like, BeYoung

Video: Clipse + Rick Ross “I’m Good (Remix)”

Vodpod videos no longer available.

This is all good, but where’s the video for “Popular Demand (Popeyes)”? Til the Casket Drops, in stores December 8. [Spotted at Nah Right]

RELATED:

Review: Clipse Til the Casket Drops [XXL]

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Kanye West’s Pastelle is a Wrap

Damn, Kanye West’s Pastelle had just dropped a “look book,” of sorts, yesterday. It was was over before it started. Seems like the only rap cats left with a feasible—and purposefully misspelled—clothing line are Clipse with Play Cloths.

Nope, I’m not counting Roc-a-Wear or anything hawked by any other rappers with questionable at best taste in clothing.

RELATED:

Pastelle by Kanye West | Never Coming Out [High Snobiety]

Discontinued: Kanye West Ditches Clothing Line [Racked]

Kanye’s Pastelle Line Dropping Neveruary 32nd? [Nah Right]

R.I.P. PASTELLE: A HISTORY OF KANYE’S LOST CLOTHING LINE [Complex]